Cat and the Internet

You know how there's software that can block your access to the internet for a fixed amount of time, supposedly to increase your productivity by keeping you off Facebook or other time-suck sites? Well, this is what I have: She may not be software, but she is soft. And she does keep me off the internet, but I don't think she's increasing productivity.

 

But this whole train of thought has gotten me looking into RescueTime and WriteRoom/DarkRoom programs. Although to be completely honest, I'm going to start with this writer's-hack of Microsoft Word (because why should I give up the word processing features when I don't have to?) I've followed the instructions and for my experience, it turns Word into a notebook. No, not a computer-notebook, but it tricks my brain into thinking it's writing in an honest to goodness notebook-notebook. As long as I don't over-analyze the fact that I'm typing not writing by hand, I can forget for a time that I'm on a computer.

Now. If I can just wrangle the cat.

Battling the Blank Page

A blank page is daunting. It's a fact. It's a totally illogical fact, but it's a fact.

Sometimes the vast possibilities presented by that which is unwritten can stymie a writer. Sometimes the idea of modifying a pristine white field (whether paper or word processor) with your inadequate first draft is demoralizing. Yet it's completely illogical: possibilities thwarted by the presence of possibilities? An empty sheet of wood pulp seeming more worthy than words representing your unbridled imagination? It's totally illogical -- and yet totally true.

So true, in fact, that I've been given advice my entire life of how to combat it:

In undergrad my creative writing adviser suggested we all draft in pencil because it would feel less permanent than pen therefore allowing us the ability to put mistakes on the page without fear of ruination.

A middle school English teacher forbade our class from writing in pencil because we were too tempted to erase our good ideas along with our bad -- pen only! Mistakes were to be crossed out, but kept. And when we got our writing back from her we saw why: she nurtured all those aborted thoughts of ours and helped us see that we could stretch beyond the safe answers we thought where the "right" answers.

I've known people who type only with their eyes closed. Or who write at night, turn off their desk lamp and pitch the background color of their word processor black so that they can lose awareness of the screen's harsh, mechanical glare. (This does provide sort of an ethereal state, especially if you alter the text color to something whimsical.)

For as many people who swear by ornate "writer helping" software like scrivner, I've heard from just as many who just want a basic word processor -- cut, paste, spellcheck -- because the additional bells and whistles of "writing helping" software can provide as much distraction as assistance.

Lately, even the word processor has become too fancy for me.

Burn out

Over on Parajunkee, a fantasy/urban fantasy book review site, they were talking about burn out during a Q&A post. Specifically about feeling burned out when you're a book blogger.

Then Parajunkee said something which really struck a chord with me, and I think it can be applied to many activities, blogging included.

She writes:

Being a creative person, I tend to be two steps away from being bipolar — high on creative thoughts one minute, in a complete low point the next. When I’m high on it I’m producing like a freight train, writing, drawing, designing…when I’m in a low I find myself watching re-runs of Buffy The Vampire Slayer. It’s a common problem and it runs rampant with those of us that operate at accelerated paces. From what I’ve heard from “those knowledgable types” burn-out is your mind telling you to settle down and stop pushing yourself so hard or maybe find a less rigid pace to operate on.

She goes on to recommend ways of dealing with the burn out. But what fascinated me was that I'd never even realized that the Buffy-coma was a symptom of my burn out. (But instead of Buffy-coma, I crawl into wondrously fluffy novels where I don't have to think, and I stay there until I feel better.) I only considered myself burned out when I started swearing and throwing things . . . and I mean that metaphorically. Sorta.

How do you know when you're burned out, and then -- bigger question -- how do you deal with it?

Link+Love

This week's Link+Love post comes to you a bit early.

Absolutely awesome advice to those thinking of going or already attending grad school -- it's succinct, it's honest, it's got enough depth to have meaning, and most of all it's so damn true.


Grammar Girl -- whom I love, love, love for her grammar savvy and word-geekery podcasts and newsletter -- recently posted a podcast of some tips about identifying and overcoming writer's block. Lower your standards, she says, and join NaNoWriMo. Well, okay, she doesn't suggest that, but lower your standards at the beginning is the moto of NaNoWriMo (which starts in less than a month, ohmy!).


I'm teaching two sections of the exact same class this semester. Classes always vary, one to the next. But usually, when you teach the same syllabus at the same time, you have a similar experience in both sections. Not so this semester. I am amazed at how differently each class responds to exactly the same material and exactly the same lecture. I won't say any more about the specifics of the responses, but serve to say: I'm floored.


This past September would have been Jim Henson's 75th birthday. Tor.com remembers.


Writer Sara Douglass recently passed away. When I read her Wayfarer redemption, my jaw dropped as I admired all the world building and the tight building of plot that those novels possess. Although I have to say that once Axis left this earthly plain, I wasn't much interested in reading further -- note to all: don't deify your hero. A tribute, also from Tor.com.

Got my hands on a copy of Florence + the Machine's album Lungs -- and it is awesome. I thought that when I got it, I would like "Dog Days Are Over" (the reason I got the CD in the first place) and that the rest would be just okay -- how pleasantly wrong I was.